Archives: 2021-03-19

PIER MARIA FORNASARI
2021-03-19

New special warning introduced by EMA in the summary of COVID-19 Vaccine (ChAdOx1-S [recombinant]) product characteristics

EMA has just published the new product information leaflet for Astrazeneca Covid-19 vaccine after investigations of thrombosis rare cases reported. In the section 4.4 Special warnings and precautions for use has been added the following: Thrombocytopenia and coagulation disordersA combination of thrombosis and thrombocytopenia, in some cases accompanied by bleeding, hasbeen observed very rarely following

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PIER MARIA FORNASARI
2021-03-19

A leap for­ward in research on CAR T cell ther­apy – Cel­lu­lar en­gin­eer­ing makes it pos­sible to tar­get the ther­apy also against solid tu­mours

A study recently published in the journal Science looked into how CAR T immunotherapy could be used to treat solid tumours in addition to leukaemias. The programming of CAR T cells opens avenues for applying cell therapies to, for example, breast cancer or ovarian cancer in the future. In cancer immunotherapy, cells in the patient’s

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PIER MARIA FORNASARI
2021-03-19

Optimal Thromboprophylaxis protocol in Patients With COVID-19

From the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, a distinct coagulation disturbance of SARS-CoV-2 infection has been recognized. This thrombo-inflammatory phenotype, characterized by endotheliopathy, hypercoagulability, and coagulation activation, results in an increased risk of thromboembolic events. Initial observational cohort studies described high rates of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in critically ill patients with COVID-19, despite consistent use

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PIER MARIA FORNASARI
2021-03-19

Sustained neutralising antibodies in the Wuhan population suggest durable protection against SARS-CoV-2

In The Lancet, Zhenyu He and colleagues report their cross-sectional study of serological responses of morethan 9500 individuals from 3600 households in Wuhan, the early epicentre for the COVID-19 outbreak. The study was initiated shortly after lockdown in Wuhan ceased in April, 2020, with follow-up over two timepoints (June and October–December, 2020). In this cross-sectional,

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PIER MARIA FORNASARI
2021-03-19

CDC US COVID-19 update on new SARS-CoV-2 Variants

CDC’s national genomic surveillance program identifies new and emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants to determine implications for COVID-19 diagnostics, treatments, or vaccines authorized for use in the United States. Monitoring the spread of emerging variants in the United States relies on widespread, rapid sequencing.  To accelerate sequencing in the United States, CDC has contracted with commercial diagnostic laboratories, and,

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PIER MARIA FORNASARI
2021-03-18

EMA Safety Committee confirms that COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca benefits still outweigh the risks despite possible link to rare blood clots with low blood platelets.

EMA’s safety committee, PRAC, concluded its preliminary review of a signal of blood clots in people vaccinated with COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca at its extraordinary meeting of 18 March 2021. The Committee confirmed that: the benefits of the vaccine in combating the still widespread threat of COVID-19 (which itself results in clotting problems and may be fatal)

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PIER MARIA FORNASARI
2021-03-18

A new study shows recombinant ADAMTS13 reduces abnormally up-regulated von Willebrand factor in plasma from patients with severe COVID-19. A new potential role for human plasma transfusion.

Thrombosis affecting the pulmonary and systemic vasculature is common during severe COVID-19 and causes adverse outcomes. Although thrombosis likely results from inflammatory activation of vascular cells, the mediators of thrombosis remain unconfirmed. In a cross-sectional cohort of 36 severe COVID-19 patients, it was shown that markedly increased plasma von Willebrand factor (VWF) levels were accompanied

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PIER MARIA FORNASARI
2021-03-18

Low ADAMTS13 Activity Correlates with Increased Mortality in COVID-19 Patients

The main hypothesis of this retrospective study is that VWF biomarkers are associated with coagulation in COVID-19. It was performed a balanced retrospective study of COVID-19 hospitalized patients with similar demographics and comorbidities and a wide range of D-dimer levels to study how VWF biomarkers correlate with coagulation, intravascular hemolysis, and outcome. Indeed, we show

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PIER MARIA FORNASARI
2021-03-17

New Study from Cleveland Clinic Florida Researchers Points to Novel Drug Target for Treating COVID-19

Researchers from Cleveland Clinic’s Florida Research and Innovation Center (FRIC) have identified a potential new target for anti-COVID-19 therapies. Their findings were published in Nature Microbiology. Led by FRIC scientific director Michaela Gack, Ph.D., the team discovered that a coronavirus enzyme called PLpro (papain-like protease) blocks the body’s immune response to the infection.  More research is necessary, but the

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